Pail and Shovel
by nitetrkr
Summary: A collection of challenges or plot bunnies set in the world described in my profile. Strong!Smart!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Shattered Seals** : During the 20 day period the blood sanctuary seal is not active, a bloodline suppression seal is put on Naruto the locks the security is the disabled state. This was done to hide any bloodline that would give away his parentage before the Hokage was ready. The Hokage did not know about the security seal, as Kushina did not tell anyone about it. Naruto has multiple seals placed on him over time to impair his abilities. The Third Hokage is not aware of all of them, but a tracking seal linked to his crystal ball, a loyalty seal to Konoha, and a compulsion seal to forgive people are placed on his order by Jiraiya. the total number of seals is large. Borrowing from Thundereaper, the main seal array for Kyuubi contains at least 70 seals, one of which hides Naruto's red hair. The other seals will be detailed in the story.

The trigger point is the Forest of Death encounter with the snake sannin. When he applies the 5 elements seal over Naruto's 8 trigram seal, ALL of the seals collapse due to imbalance and interference. Kurama and Naruto are subject to the memories of both Minato's and Kushina's shadow clones. They may also have picked up memories from each other - Kurama will definately get all of Naruto's memories. In the instant all the seals fail, Kyuubi acts to save both of them. A sample of Naruto's genetic material (blood, heart, brain, or whatever) is saved in a personal storage dimension in stasis. The rest of Nartuo's body becomes a living chakra construct like the Biju. The snake may or may not survive what comes next.

Updated to include the Blood Sanctuary Seal information. This seal will survive the ordeal in the genetic sample.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am Legion** : Naruto is subjected to the near-death requirements to fully awaken total harmony during the sealing of Kyuubi. With the chakra of the fox, the Web of Intrigue and an understanding of how to use the powers of the virus, Venom, and his other ancestors is now his. The shadow clones of his parents providet he anchor needed to keep from losing himself to the memories, since his personal sense of self is only an hour or so old. Kurama is shocked out of the genjitsu due to the memory flood. Agreeing to work together, Naruto and Kurama plan how to train his body to match his mind and soul. Abilities in this story can include full Prototype powers or anything in the Marvel-verse, short of the identified aliens like Thanos, the Asguardians, Skrulls, and so on. Aliens the lived on Earth, ate Earth foods, and generally interacted / mated with Earth species will contract the virus and become a part of the reset performed by Scarlet Witch. So their powers and abilities are in the menu.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Deathless Shadows** : The Uzumaki were feared for a very good reason. The Daimyo of Whirlpool commanded a deathless legion of shadow guards. Tireless, indestructable, powerful and totally loyal, these creations of the sealing arts terrified the other clans and nations. However, no one had seen a shadow guard in over a century, so most thought them to be mere legends. The Legends are awake, and Naruto is their master and heir. Kushina is now a shadow guard and will do anything to protect her lord.

Shadow Guards are a combination of puppetry, metal work, seals, and shadow clones. A chakra-metal and titanium-coltan alloy skeleton with a chakra-metal polyalloy liquid metal sheath allows the puppet to shape-shift into virtually any humanoid form. A shadow clone is sealed into the puppet and powered by chakra gathering and absorbing seals. This allows the clone to use chakra at constant Kage levels for weeks without rest. Chakra from attacks below B rank or without high control is simply absorbed to power the guard. The final step involves summoning the Shinigami to reverse the memory flow of the shadow clone jutsu. When the caster dies, the clone gains the memories of the caster and the technique continues as long as the clone wishes and has chakra from the seals. Other seals enforce loyalty to the Whirlpool Daimyo to prevent rogue guards from becoming threats. After 10 years of service, the clone can disspell if it wishes, but must obey the Daimyo otherwise. The process completes with the puppet "asleep" until the caster dies. Kushina, Mikoto Uchiha and Hitomi Huuyga were a team in the Third Shinobi War. Kushina invited her teamates to become "shadow recruits" after returning from the war and before their marriages. The number of guards can be very large, since every person who did a grand service for Whirlpool, the Daimyo of Whirlpool, or the Uzumaki clan could be invited to become "recruits". The usual reward was to be allow to watch over their loved ones for the first decade, folowed by a decade of service to the clan or Whirlpool. In story terms, this means that Hitomi and Mikoto may not die as they did in cannon, since Kushina is active and would intervene to save her friends.

Note that not all shadow guards chose to be humaniod. Some rare custom shells were made, also for "Zoid-like" machines, Transformers, etc. Mecha will be limited in size to a maximum of 40 meters or so due to the power required to move that much mass. The seals are good, but in general, the larger the body, the less chakra for anything other than movement. This encourages the "big robots with guns" that most mecha anime love. No jutsu for big robots. The "Assaults" as the large guards are called are basically armored transports that inspired Snow Country's chakra armor due to legends about the massive machines ignore attacks.

Assaults move at high Chunin, low Jonin speed on the ground. No tree hopping, or flight. Swimming is also possible for some models, as is walking on the bottom of a moderately deep river or lake. Deep oceans, not so much. The chakra expense of just moving and stay active limits the mecha. Shields and other energy expenditures run off seprate chakra seals that are limited in capacity to a few hours of heavy use at most. Any "signature attacks" are usually powered by the pilot and are thus limited to what the pilot can channel. The Liger's laser claws would count as a B rank attack, and the cutting tail would be A rank, and so on. The rest of the weapons are limited to what puppets normally use: kunai launchers, senbon launchers, poison gas, poisoned weapons, explosive tags, trap jutsu tags and so on. The occasional mecha has chinese rockets from the Mongol period (really big bottle rockets) and mortars.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kageboushi:** Kageboushi or Shadow Play refers to Naruto plus Shadow Clones plus Puppets - A saner version of **Deathless** where Naruto uses Henged Shadow Clones to power semi-standard ninja puppets. The clones use chakra strings to manage the puppet and perform any jutsu. Naruto prepares a stasis scroll with puppets that can act independently and take serious hits before "powering down". His favorite puppet is Cerberus. The puppet is operated by three clones Henged into Chipmunks. The Center Head contains the Taijutsu clone the manages the body movement, named Alvin. The Left Head has Simon, who uses chakra strings to throw missle weapons, exploding tags, and tangle opponents to throw or choke. The Right Head is operated by Theodore. This head focuses on defense. Prepared Substitutions, hardening the body with chakra, or absorbing chakra via seals to recharge the clones are all tasks for the Right Head.


End file.
